The one consistent story line going into this game is the match up between tackle Bryant McKinnie and Bears defensive end Julius Peppers.
McKinnie has absolutely no answer for Peppers when he faced off against him last year when Peppers lined up for Carolina but McKinnie put that poor performance off to injury.
We know McKinnie’s game and it’s pretty weak against speed rushers. So we’ll see if McKinnie can hold up against the guy and, if not, let’s hope that the coaching staff gets him some help.
3RD
The Chicago Bears are ranked third in the NFL against the run this season but the Bears have yet to face a real franchise back like Adrian Peterson. Oakland’s Darren McFadden is having a great year with 757 yards and Ahmad Bradshaw has accumulated 765 yards in the Giants backfield but still, they ain’t no Adrian Peterson.
Still, that likely means the onus will be on Brett Favre‘s arm again this week but look for the Vikings to continue to feed the ball to Peterson out of the backfield in the passing game.
32
The number of sacks the Bears offense has given up this season.
And you know who is responsible for the Bears’ line this year? None other than Mike Tice.
The Bears have made some adjustments to their protection schemes but the best thing you can do defensively against the Bears is to get pressure on Jay Cutler because he’s not a very good quarterback when he doesn’t have pressure on him.
The Vikings need to get pressure; if they can’t with the front four, then Leslie Frazier needs to send some blitzes like he did last week.
7
Visanth(e) Shiancoe needs only seven more receiving yards to move into third place in Vikings history among reception yards for tight ends. That’s pretty impressive considering how few years Shank has spent on the Vikings roster so far and that the Vikings have had some pretty good tight ends in their history.
Shiancoe would pull ahead of Joe Senser with those seven yards but the list also includes Stu Voigt and Steve Jordan.
Who’dve thought our Visanth(e) Shiancoe (all he does is drop touchdowns!) would grow up to become such a prolific receiver?
…EXCEPT FOR PAT WILLIAMS, THAT IS
Yesterday, I waxed nostalgic for the days of Chester Taylor and Adrian Peterson in the same backfield, exclaiming that we miss good ol’ Chester.
It’s a sentiment that’s not universally shared, apparently.
The ever-entertaining Pat Williams, told the Star Tribune‘s Mark Craig, in his own eloquent way…Chester who? Here’s the quote:
“I don’t care about no Chester. He’s not on our team, so I really don’t care about him. if you aren’t on the Vikings, I don’t care about you. … That’s how I roll.
“Chester don’t even start, so we don’t worry about him right now. He ain’t the starting running back. He’s the backup, so we’re going to try and put the other back out and put Chester in there. At the end of the day, we don’t worry about Chester.”
WHATEVAH
Percy Harvin has been meeting with doctors the past two days to deal with a recurrence of his migraines.
Not to make light of a pretty seriously painful condition….but whatever.
Harvin has proven himself to be a pretty tough guy who apparently doesn’t need much practice to excel. Sure, he’s missed game time because of his migraines but talk to me on game day. Until then, I’ll expect to see him on the active roster.
THE DEETS
Kickoff is at 12 PM CST on Sunday and will be broadcast on FOX Nationally and FOX 9 locally. Your play-by-play guy isKenny Albert with Daryl Johnston providing the analysis. The useless sideline “reporter” is Tony Siragusa.
You can listen to the game locally on radio at KFAN-AM 1130/KTLK 100.3-FM. Play-by-play guy is Paul Allen, the analyst is Pete Bercich, and your actual sideline reporter is Greg Coleman. Pre-game show starts 10:00 a.m. CST.
WALKING WOUNDED
VIKINGS: It looks doubtful cornerback Asher Allen (concussion) will play Sunday because he didn’t practice for a second day in a row yesterday; nor did safety Jamarca Sanford (hamstring).
Quarterback Brett Favre (body), of course, is nursing numerous ailments and practiced a little yesterday but you and I both know that the only way he’s not starting is if someone lops off both his arms and his legs.
Offensive tackle Phil Loadholt (knee) and defensive tackle Pat Williams (elbow) have both been limited but are expected to start.
Rookie defensive end Everson Griffen (shoulder) and cornerbacks Lito Sheppard (hand) and Frank Walker (hamstring) did not miss any practices and are expected to be good to go Sunday.
BEARS: Center Olin Kreutz (hamstring) didn’t practice. Cornerbacks Zackary Bowman (foot), Tim Jennings (knee) and D.J. Moore (head) were limited.